Actuating mechanism for theatrical curtains.



2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

ljATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.V

S. H. GARRBTT. AGTUATI-NG MBGHANISM FOR THBATRIGAL CURTAINS APPLICATIONFILED MAY 13, 1904.

NO MODEL.

M LT ...QM KK o @5K Z m w 4 W PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

S. H. GARRETT. ACTUATING MEOHANISM FOR THEATRIGAL CURTAINS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented August 2, 1904.

PATENT OEEICE.

SAMUEL H. GARRETT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO ENERGYELEVATOR COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OFPENNSYLVANIA.

ACTUATING NIECHANISNI FOR THEATRICAL CURTAINS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,238, dated. August2, 1904.

Application filed May 13, 1904.

T rl/ZZ whom it mf/,y concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL H. GARRETT, a citizen of the United States,residing at the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia andState of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Actuating Mechanism for Theatrical Ourtains, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention has relation to drop or safety curtains for theaters orother places of amusement, and in such connection it relates moreparticularly to the raising' and lowering mechanisms for such characterof curtains opel'- ative from desired points of the stage, as well as tomeans for controlling the same from different points of the stag'e.

The principal objects of my invention are, first, to provide a drop orsafety curtain with means for controlling the ascent and descent fromvarious points or positions of the stage; second, to provide such acurtain with means whereby it may be raised or lowered before attachingthe curtain to its counter-weight means to permit of repairs thereto orstorage of the same, and, third, to provide a curtain of the characterdescribed with raising mechanism and with means for breaking the descentof the curtain under the influence of gravity to thereby bring thecurtain in its descent 3o gradually to its lowered position.

My invention, stated in general terms, consists of actuating' mechanismfor theatrical or other curtains constructed and arranged insubstantially the manner hereinafter described and claimed.

The nature and characteristic features of my invention will be morefully understood from the following description, taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which Figure lis a view, partly in elevation and partly in section, of a drop orsafety curtain and its actuating' mechanisms, embodying main features ofmy present invention, looking at the same from the back of the stage.Eig. 2.

is an enlarged front elevational view of the mam and auxiliarymechanisms for control- Serial No. 207,785. (No model.)

ling the raising and lowering' of the curtain. Eig. 3 is a sideelevational view, partly in section, of the mechanism shown in Eig. 9.,eertain parts being removed for the sake of clearness. Fig. 4 is anenlarged detail view of one of the main operating-drums, from the cableof which drum the curtain is connected and provided with a safety deviceto control the extent of unwinding' of the cable from the drum. Fig. 5is a front elevational view in detail of the 4friction device forcontrolling the band-brake of the auxiliary operating mechanism for thecurtain. Fig. 6 is an cn- 60 larged sectional and elevational view indetail of a device to permit of the movement in one direction only ofthe main operating-shcave, and Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view insection of a dash-pot arrangement for controlling the gradual stoppageof the curtain in its descent to its lowermost position.

Referring to the drawings, the curtain n is shown as suspended in itslowermost position to the rear of the opening fr (illustrated in dottedoutline in Eig. l) of the prosceniumwall of a theater or other amusementediice by means of suitable cables u2, adapted to be wound onto a seriesof drums u, suitably and securely keyed to the main lifting-shaft of thecurtain elevating' and lowering mechanisms of my invention. The cablesu: are of sufficient length to reach from the drums n to the stage a" tofacilitate attaching ordetaching the curtain. ln conlined situations--that is, where the space is limited in which the curtain is located tobe raised and lowered-in such instance the cables z2 are attached to ahatten o, secured to the curtain at a point below the top thereof. Thatportion of the curtain between the batten if and the batten o at the topof the curtain is raised by means of cables of, secured to the batten u"and traveling' over wheclsr/h', loosely mounted on the shaft f. Thesecables are provided at their free ends with weights u". It will beunderstood that while the curtain is rising to its uppermost positionthat portion of thecurtain between the battens a. and c will fold overand permit the other portion to rise. The lifting-shaft 5 also has keyedthereto a drum d, upon Awhich is wound a cable CZ, carrying at its end asuitable weight e for balancing the weight of the curtain. The cable dis so arranged upon its drum CZ that when the curtain is raised by therotation of they lifting-shaft and the cables a2 are wound on theirrespective drums a3 the cable d' will be is in its raised position thechain c2 will liein a heap at the bottom of the box e. The lower end ofthe chain e2 is secured to a piston-rod f of a dash-pot f, securelyfastened at the bottom of the'box er. The dash-pot f (illustrated indetail in Fig. 7) comprises a cylinder f2, traversed by a piston f3 andprovided at its upper end with a valve fA1 of any suitable constructionto control theegress of the air from the upper end of the cylinder. Thisdash-pot is so arranged A'that the curtain will be brought to a gradualstop at its lowermost position without shock or jar.

The curtain-lifting mechanism comprises in addition to the lifting-drumsa3. a sheavewheel g, mounted upon the lifting-shaft and provided with anendless rope g, adapted to be operated to raise the curtain from theflygallery 7L of the theater. This sheave-wheel g is permitted to turnin but one operative direction by means of the device t'. (Illustratedin detail in Fig. 6.) This device has inclined faces t", between whichandthe wheel g are placed rollers 2, adapted to jam against the sides ofthe rim of the sheave-wheel g when turned in one direction, yet leavingthe sheave-Wheel free when turned in a contrary direction to raise thecurtain. The sheave-wheel g is loosely mounted upon the shaft I) and isadapted to be locked thereto by means of a friction-clutch k. It willtherefore `be understood that when the sheave-wheel g is locked to thelifting-shaft y Z1 the curtain can only be raised, and when it isdesired to lower the curtain it is necessary to disconnect thesheave-wheel g from the lifting-shaft 7). To operate thefriction-clutch, Vthe lever 1 is attached to an endless rope which runsover suitable g'uide-pulleys 71:3 and 704 to such points from which itmay be desired to lower the curtain from the stage and fly-gallery. InFig. 1 this controlling-rope k2 is shown running to both the fly-galleryand to the stage, so that the curtain can be loW- ered from eitherpoint. The curtain t is slightly heavier than the balancing-weight e,

This weight Y -ranged on a shaft m2.

vis provided with a band-brake m5.

so that when ythe sheave-wheel g is discon- 6 5 nected from thelifting-shaft b by means of the friction-clutch ,7c the curtain willreadily descend by gravity.

When it is desired to attach or detach the curtain for repairs orotherwise, it is necessary to lower the top of the curtain to the stage,and to accomplish this result the balancing-weights must boedisconnected and the dead-weight of the curtain must be handled by thelifting mechanism. 'It would not be possible to raise the curtain bymeans of the sheave-wheel g and rope g' without the assistance of thebalanCing-Weight e. Therefore in order that the curtain mayl readily behandled when the balancing-weight is detached there is provided thelfollowing' auxiliary liftingmechanism: On the end of the lifting-- shaftbis secured a gear-wheel. m, which is adapted to mesh with a pinion m,slidably arf Ordinarily the pinion m is not in engagement with the gearm, (see l Fig. 2;) but When it is desired to use the auxiliary liftingmechanism the pinion fm is slid along the shaft m2 until it meshes withthe `gear m. On the shaft m2 is mounted a large sheave-wheel m3,provided with an endless rope mi, adapted to be operated from the Hy.-gallery L. The rim of the sheave-Wheel m3 The mechanism for operatingthis band-brake comprises a lever a, pivoted, as at a', and carrying aweight a2, tending normally to release the band-brake from itsengagement With the rim ofthe sheave-wheel m3. To the outer end of thelever n is secured a cord or rope 0, adapted to raise the lever a tocause the bandbrake to engage the rim of the sheave. The cord 0 isadapted to run over a series of frictionrollers o and to a point inproximity to the iiy-gallery L, from which it is adapted to be operated.At the free end of the cord 0 is secured a Weight 02, serving to acertain extent to balance the weight a2 on the lever n and acting inconjunction with the weight a2 and friction-rollers 0 to lock theband-brake either in or out of engagement with the rim of the sheave m3.

In Fig. 4 of the drawings there is illustrated one of the drums a3 forraising the curtain. As hereinbefore described, the lifting-cables t2are of suiicient length to reach fromthe drums to the stage. Ordinarily,however, only about half of this length is used, and it is possible incase of an accident, such as the breaking of the cable carrying thebalanceingweights, that the entire curtain would drop kthe requiredamount of cable will be permitted to unwind from the drum in the descentof the curtain.

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Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is m 1. A deviceot' the character described, comp rising a curtain, a series of cablesfrom which the curtain is suspended, a series of drums upon which saidcables are adapted to be wound to raise the curtain, a shaft upon whichsaid drums are mounted, in combination with means for balancing theweight ot' the curtain, comprising a drum mounted upon said shaft andupon which is wound a cable carrying a weight at its free end, saidcable being' so arranged as to be unwound when the curtainraising cablesare wound on their respective drums.

2. A device ot' the character described, comprising a curtain, a seriesot' cables from which said curtain is suspended, a series of drums uponwhich said cables are adapted to be wound to raise the curtain, incombination with means for balancing the weight of the curtain, andmeans for gradually bringing the curtain to a stop at its lowermostposition.

A device of the character described, comprising a curtain, a series ofcables from which said curtain is suspended, a series of drums uponwhich said cables are adapted to be wound to raise the curtain, incombination with means for balancing the weight of the curtain, andmeans for balancing the weight of the cables as the same are wound orunwound from their respective drums.

A. A device of the character described, comprising a curtain, a seriesof cables from which said curtain is suspended, a series ot' drums iupon which said cables are adapted to be wound to raise the curtain, ashaft upon which said drums are mounted, means for locking the shaftagainst rotation to prevent unwinding ot' the cables from theirrespective'drums, means for unlocking thc shaft to permit the curtain todescend and means for cont-rolling the unlocking means from any desiredpoint.

5. A device ofthe character described, comprising a curtain, a series ofcables from which said curtain is suspended, a series of drums uponwhich said cables are adapted to be wound to raise the curtain and meansfor balancing the weight ot' the curtain, in combination with means forraising the curtain when the balancing means is detached.

6. A device of the character described, comprising' a curtain, a seriesof cables from which said curtain is suspended, a series of drums uponwhich said cables are adapted to be wound to raise the curtain, a shaftupon which said drums are mounted, in combination with means for raisingthe curtain when the balancing means is detached, comprising a gearwheelmounted upon the shaft carrying said drums, a pinion normally out ot'engagement with said gear-wheel` but adapted to be slid into' engagementwith the same and means adapted to rotate said pinion.

1n testimony whereof 1 have hereunto set my signature in the presenceot' two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL H. GARRETT. Vitnesses:

J. VAL'rnn DoUGLAss, THOMAS M. SMITH.

